CH 129.1

Chapter 129.1 – Shangyuan Lantern Festival (Middle Part)

Answering lantern riddles and winning lanterns was not a difficult task for Lu Qipei.

There was never a shortage of talented and knowledgeable and people in the capital. When Lu Qipei was led by the servant to the lantern tower, there were already around seven or eight young people answering riddles around. Some were of average talent and could only answer a few on the lower layers, while the others were genuine talents that could answer the riddles on the middle and upper layers in one go without stopping.

The palace lantern on this lantern tower seemed to be the most beautiful among the surrounding ones, so many people came to give it a try, and Lu Qipei’s joining did not attract anyone’s attention. That is, until she managed to guess ten lantern riddles in one go, and gave the answer without even needing to think almost every time she received the question. Gradually, it attracted the attention of others.

Lu Qipei was quick-witted and answered the lantern riddles quickly. After all, Qi Yang had already pointed at the palace lantern on top and told her that she wanted it, so naturally Lu Qipei wouldn’t hesitate. It didn’t take much time for her to catch up with the young master who had been far ahead in answering the lantern riddles, and Lu Qipei then overtook him without batting an eyelid, continuing her way upwards.

No matter how tall the lantern tower was, there was also a limit to how many floors it could have. This lantern tower was twenty one stories tall. If you wanted to take the glazed palace lantern at the top, you need to answer twenty one riddles, and if you got one wrong, you could only start over from the beginning.

Lu Qipei proceeded calmly and answered twenty riddles correctly, but when she reached the last one, the butler in charge of the lantern tower didn’t give her a lantern riddle.

It seemed that the butler didn’t expect this passerby that was casually stopped to be so amazing, but he still had a smile on his face as he said, “Young Master, you answered the first twenty lantern riddles correctly, it’s really impressive. However, the last question prepared by our master is not a riddle.”

He waved his hand as she spoke, and servant ran from nearby with a pair of bow and arrows. But perhaps afraid that it would hurt someone on the Lantern Festival, the arrowhead had been removed, leaving only the shaft. It wasn’t clear what his intention was.

Soon, the butler cupped his hands and explained, “Young Master is very talented, and we are already convinced. However, my master has always admired people who have both literary and military skills, and archery is also one of the Six Arts. Therefore, the final question would be archery.”

He pointed to the glazed palace lantern at the top and said, “There is a latch above the palace lantern, if you can hit it, then it’s your win, and you can take the lantern.”

Lu Qipei squinted her eyes and looked up. Although the surrounding lights were bright, the darkness still affected her vision. She could vaguely see the latch that the butler was referring to, but she couldn’t help but sneer and say, “Your master is really daring, the last question is to shoot an arrow at the palace lantern directly, is he not afraid that I will accidentally shoot the palace lantern?”

The glazed palace lantern was indeed amazing, but the more exquisite it was, the easier it would be to get damaged. Even though the arrowhead was removed, a miss from such a short distance would be enough to destroy the lantern. This way, no matter whether the contestant won or not, the lantern tower’s owner would lose a lantern.

The butler’s expression finally turned stiff for a moment after hearing this, but he still forced a smile on his face and said, “Young Master must be joking. If you lifted your bow, you must have a plan in mind, how could you easily destroy it?”

It didn’t seem like he wanted to continue this topic, and he handed the bow and arrow over after saying that.

Lu Qipei was a bit carefree when answering the riddles earlier, still holding Lu Sheng in her arms, but she naturally couldn’t do so when it came to archery. She turned around and handed the little dumpling to Qi Yang. When she then tried out the bow and arrow herself, she raised her eyebrows hidden beneath the mask,

The bow that the butler gave her was not an ordinary one, but a powerful three-stone1 bow. Right now, the standard bows used by archers in the military were only two-stone ones. A three-stone bow wasn’t something for ordinary people – let alone shoot it, even drawing the bow might be a problem. The other party obviously wanted to embarrass her, or did not want to let go of this beautiful palace lantern so early!

Lu Qipei wasn’t someone who cared about winning or losing, but the other party’s unwillingness to lose was really appalling. Before she could say anything, the young master that she overtook earlier spoke. He took two steps forward and said, “If Your Excellency is not good at archery, I can do it for you.”

These hasty words made Lu Qipei look back at the other party, who made an embarrassed smile and said, “My little sister really likes this palace lantern. If Your Excellency is willing to give this one up, This Little One is willing to compensate you separately.”

After hearing this, Lu Qipei shook her head while holding the bow and arrow and said, “No need.”

It was a refusal to the help, as well as to giving up the lantern.

Wearing the mask while aiming the arrow still affected her sight; since the night was already hindering her vision, Lu Qipei finally took off her mask just to be safe. When her jade-like face was exposed, it still caused a small round of exclamation from people around her, and a lot of the eyes looking at her turned hot at this moment.

Lu Qipei ignored it and only smiled ingratiatingly at Qi Yang.

Her Royal Highness The Princess took her mask with slight dissatisfaction and held if for her temporarily, and at the same time also warned her in a soft and pompous voice, “If you don’t win the lantern, you’re sleeping in the study tonight!”

Lu Qipei didn’t panic and blinked her eyes while whispering back, “You’re the one who won’t be able to bear it.”

After the two openly flirted with each other, Lu Qipei turned around with the bow and arrow, and her whole demeanor changed. She raised the arrow and pulled on the bow, slowly exerting force with her slender arms, and gradually drew the three-stone bow.

It could be seen that she was somewhat pushing herself, and her thin body was tense from the force of her arms, making the people feel anxious for her.

The scene remained quiet for a while until Lu Qipei let the arrow loose and it flew through the air with a whizzing sound…

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